The NPPC has created a trade action cycle roughly parallel to the hog cycle on the premise that trade actions against Canada have been the most effective way for the US to enhance its competitiveness. [...] The intent of this commentary is to briefly explain the economic situation facing hog producers in Canada, explain the CPC proposal and to examine its likely effects on hog supply and prices in Canada and the US. [...] The Economic Situation in the Canadian Hog Industry It has been well publicized on both sides of the border that the hog industry has been in a prolonged slump, which has led to economic losses. [...] The announced target of this aspect of the actual program is a reduction in the Canadian breeding herd of 5%. [...] Reversing the logic from above, it means that, based on 2008 numbers, the loan guarantee program would somehow result in an increase in the Canadian breeding herd of between 20% and 30% from what would have been the case absent the loan program but with the exit portion.

Michael Meeropol argues that the ballooning of the federal budget deficit was not a serious problem in the 1980s, nor were the successful recent efforts to get it under control the basis for the prosperous economy of the mid-1990s. In this controversial book, the author provides a close look at what actually happened to the American economy during the years of the "Reagan Revolution" and reveals that the huge deficits had no negative effect on the economy. It was the other policies of the Reagan years--high interest rates to fight inflation, supply-side tax cuts, reductions in regulation, increased advantages for investors and the wealthy, the unraveling of the safety net for the poor--that were unsuccessful in generating more rapid growth and other economic improvements. Meeropol provides compelling evidence of the failure of the U.S. economy between 1990 and 1994 to generate rising incomes for most of the population or improvements in productivity. This caused, first, the electoral repudiation of President Bush in 1992, followed by a repudiation of President Clinton in the 1994 Congressional elections. The Clinton administration made a half-hearted attempt to reverse the Reagan Revolution in economic policy, but ultimately surrendered to the Republican Congressional majority in 1996 when Clinton promised to balance the budget by 2000 and signed the welfare reform bill. The rapid growth of the economy in 1997 caused surprisingly high government revenues, a dramatic fall in the federal budget deficit, and a brief euphoria evident in an almost uncontrollable stock market boom. Finally, Meeropol argues powerfully that the next recession, certain to come before the end of 1999, will turn the predicted path to budget balance and millennial prosperity into a painful joke on the hubris of public policymakers. Accessibly written as a work of recent history and public policy as much as economics, this book is intended for all Americans interested in issues of economic policy, especially the budget deficit and the Clinton versus Congress debates. No specialized training in economics is needed. "A wonderfully accessible discussion of contemporary American economic policy. Meeropol demonstrates that the Reagan-era policies of tax cuts and shredded safety nets, coupled with strident talk of balanced budgets, have been continued and even brought to fruition by the neo-liberal Clinton regime." --Frances Fox Piven, Graduate School, City University of New York Michael Meeropol is Chair and Professor of Economics, Western New England College.

When he took office in 2001, George W. Bush inherited the strongest economy in American history. He inherited the largest federal budget surplus in American history -- and the prospect of paying off the entire national debt in just eight years. He inherited a strong dollar and sound fiscal policy. He inherited a nation whose economy was so strong that commentators who just a decade before were predicting American decline were now complaining about American dominance. And yet, Dubya blew it. Squandered everything he'd inherited from President Clinton. We thought if Junior was good at anything, it was inheriting things. It's Still the Economy, Stupid is the story of how America's CEO -- our first MBA president -- has trashed our economy. It shows: • How he wasted the surplus on massive tax cuts for the hyper-rich. • How he talked down the economy for his short-term political gain, then passed an economic program that has put 1.8 million Americans out of work and cost investors $4.4 trillion. • How he abandoned his free-trade rhetoric to adopt protectionist tariffs, effectively raising taxes on consumers. • How he walked away from needed investments in education, training, and all the things that make us smarter, safer, and stronger economically. • How he plans to go on from here to cripple Social Security and to allow the privileged to avoid even more taxes. It makes you wonder: What do they teach you at Harvard Business School?